The Bitcoin industry is developing very rapidly and it is hard to believe that we have already achieved the first half of the year. As in any new industry, a week’s development often feels as if a month or two has already passed.

So far in 2014 a lot has happened in the Bitcoin world. The collapse of Mt.Gox, large venture capital investments in Bitcoin startups and the auction of the 30,000 Silk Road Bitcoins seized have received a lot of media attention.

Only time will tell us how the Bitcoin will develop in the future. Nevertheless, some trends have developed so far that will decide how and how quickly the Bitcoin will gain greater acceptance.

Here are trends that we already observed in the first half of the year:

Large companies enter the Bitcoin evolution

The year began with a big bang when it was announced here: https://www.forexaktuell.com/en/bitcoin-evolution-scam/ that it would accept Bitcoin as a means of payment in the future. The positive response from the online merchant has also encouraged large companies to continue accepting Bitcoin evolution.

The online consumer electronics retailer TigerDirect has been accepting Bitcoin since late January and other names such as Sacramento King, Lord & Taylor and REED Jewelers followed shortly thereafter. Since the end of June, even online giants with an annual turnover of more than 2 billion accept Bitcoin. These include DISH, Expedia and Newegg.

If we add the growing number of smaller companies that have introduced Bitcoin as a means of payment, we can expect around 100,000 companies by the end of the year.

A warm regulatory Bitcoin evolution climate

Although the mood between the regulators and Bitcoin evolution has not been too good so far, it seems that governments are gradually giving in and are more open to digital currencies.

At the beginning of the year, the Chinese government’s stance towards Bitcoin was rather ambiguous. Until April, the head of the Chinese central bank said that a ban on Bitcoin was “out of the question” because Bitcoin is more of an asset than a currency.

After Russia issued a warning to Bitcoin at the beginning of the year, the government recently announced that it would reconsider its position.

Gerogy Luntovsky, deputy chairman of the Russian Central Bank, said that the government must take time to monitor and examine the development of Bitcoin:

“At this stage, we must observe how the situation develops with such a kind of currency. The

A positive development could also be observed in California. Governor Jerry Brown declared Bitcoin to be “legal money”. Similar news also came from Switzerland, where there were also thoughts of establishing Bitcoin as “legal money”.

The regulators seem to be increasingly prepared to find legislation in favour of the Bitcoin community to prevent money laundering and fraud without stifling innovation.

venture capitalists invest heavily in Bitcoin
Not everyone is as slow as governments.

Serious venture capital companies have already invested in Bitcoin in 2013. This year, however, they seem to want to get off to a good start and have already invested USD 150 million.

The risk capital flowing into the Bitcoin industry supports the Bitcoin infrastructure both explicitly and implicitly: Bitcoin start-ups receive capital to build the products and services needed to build the Bitcoin protocol, and investor confidence creates a legitimate Bitcoin reputation.

The Dutch ING Groep has released a blockchain tool designed to give customers increased privacy. The tool is called Zero-Knowledge Set Membership and is open to the public.

Companies are enthusiastic about the Bitcoin evolution

Even though financial institutions are usually not fans of crypto currencies, companies are quite often interested in distributed ledger technologies such as Bitcoin evolution blockchain. Visa and MasterCard, for example, never tire of warning of the dangers of ICOs. The two credit card companies even recently announced that they would take stronger action against ICOs in the future. In cases of doubt, the companies also reserve the right to reverse bookings up to 540 days after a transaction – if, for example, they are connected to questionable ICOs. On the other hand, both companies are enthusiastic about the blockchain. For example, Visa launched its own blockchain platform. Meanwhile, MasterCard, too, never tires of advancing in the blockchain area.

More data protection with Blockchain

Now the ING Groep also joins the ranks of financial service providers that deal with blockchain technology and its implications. The major Dutch bank published its open source blockchain tool Zero-Knowledge Set Membership on 22 October.

The tool aims to protect the privacy of customers. With the help of the tool, the affiliation of data can be checked. The whole process is automated and anonymous – the blockchain performs the verification during this process. This enables, for example, credit applicants to prove that their income is sufficient for the credit without having to disclose their accounts. In this way, ING intends to use the tool to ensure transparency and protect its customers’ data at the same time. Ultimately, the tool can also be used for know-your-customer processes, where it is necessary to prove the place of residence or similar personal data.

ING Groep is based in Amsterdam and is one of 30 major banks that the Financial Stability Board has rated as a systemically important financial institution. With its move into DLT, it is now taking a pioneering step for the financial industry.

The price passed through two triangle patterns, reached an all-time high of 0.062 BTC (87.39 EUR) and is now in a third triangle pattern at 0.060 BTC (84.57 EUR)

Summary

After an initial maximum of BTC 0.060 (EUR 84.57) on 1 May, the price fell and passed through a triangle pattern. After a positive breakout from the first triangle, the price rose to the previous all-time high 0.062 BTC (EUR 87.39), but fell after passing a second triangle pattern.
The price is currently going through a third triangle and stands at 0.052 BTC (63.57 EUR).
My goodness – such charts make you feel like an invasion of the empire by Star wars (“The Empire. Our ships are big triangles!” – ok, that was far-fetched…) ;). What is noticeable this week are the different triangle patterns that were run through – meanwhile we are in the third!

Anyway, here is also, similar to the case “Bitcoin history in the making”. Even in the value pair ETH/BTC, i.e. considering the very positive price development of Bitcoin, new all-time highs were reached. After the recent all-time high, the price has fallen for the time being, but is currently moving in an upward triangle pattern, which is a good sign for further positive price development.

The MACD (second panel from above) is slightly above zero. Furthermore, the MACD line (blue) is currently above the signal (orange). Overall, this indicator thus speaks a slightly bullish language.

At 56, the RSI reinforces this bullish picture

Thus, the 60min-Chart looks bullish from the price development. It will have to show in which direction the current triangle pattern will leave – it is positive here that the resistance is currently being tested. For a further forecast, the focus is on medium- and long-term price developments.

Let’s start with the 240min chart:

Apart from a test of the EMA42 (i.e. last week’s EMA) at the beginning of May, the price remained stable above the support levels described by the two EMAs. The MACD is positive, but the MACD line is below the signal. The RSI is bullish with 59. Overall, the 240min chart supports the bullish signals from the 60min chart, but the signal above the MACD line may provide some consolidation.

Let’s take a final look at the 1D chart:

The MACD is positive and the MACD line is well above the signal. The RSI is currently at 69 and confirms this bullish signal.

So the overall outlook is rather bullish. We will have to see how the price behaves in the current triangle pattern – here it is certainly positive that the signals on the 60min chart are bullish as well.